


Wrong Place, Wrong Time

by mrnsnpr49



Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Betrayal, Character Death, Guerrilla Warfare, Improvise Adapt and Overcome, Military, Underdog
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 17:47:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19178311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrnsnpr49/pseuds/mrnsnpr49
Summary: Chase Dowd is a newly minted Sergeant in the UNSC Marine Corps, and is sent on a difficult mission with Linda-058. When their pelican is shot down, Chase starts to believe that maybe this mission isn't what it seems to be.





	1. The Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An intro to the characters and the mission assigned.

Chapter one  
30 miles north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The first sign that the end of the world was beginning, was when on the tv an AI suddenly appeared, and alerted Chase that the Covenant had started an attempt at breaching the orbital guns. The 26 year old immediately jumped out of his chair and headed to his gun safe, where he got out his civilian model of the (SR) he carried in the Marine Corps along with a MA5B. He then called his brother, John, and told him to bring his truck over to his house. afterwards, he called the towns AI, Seraphina.

"Seraphina, what's happening with the situation up in space?"

"The Covenant have broken through over Africa and are landing troops in New Mombasa." the 3 year old AI stated. Chase exhaled in relief as he thought about calling John and telling him not to worry. "Hold on," Seraphina said, " Covenant corvette just got damaged as it made its way through the hole they punched. Its trajectory shows it coming down over the lake." Lake Nockamixon was a man made lake about 3 miles away surrounded by woods, with walking and bike paths cutting throughout. 

"Fuck"

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

From a young age, Chase Dowd wanted nothing more then to be a UNSC Marine. He spent most of his childhood running around playing marine with his friends, running through the woods on ambushes, and scouting out the ice cream shops. As he got older he got more serious about the idea and started traing his body. Chase made sure not to make himself so musclebound thatt he wasnt able to bend, he stratched and made himself limber. After fraduation, Chase entered the recruiting station and signed up on the spot. He was sent to boot camp a week later. Boot camp was not what he had been expecting. He found that while being strong was a part of it, he found that mental strength was even more important. Many recruits who could bench 2 or maybe even 3 times as much as Chase, quit with in the first 2 weeks. However Chase was able to get through it, and in some ways even thrived. Once graduating from boot camp, he had been deployed into combat with the Covenant. Chase quickly was promoted again and again for his bravery and fighting skill, until 2 years after joining, he was made sergeant and put in charge of his own squad. After only a week of training with his new squad, they were chosen to be deployed as security for a special operation.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Sergeant Dowd, please report to the CIC immediately.” Chase looked up at the PA after hearing the summoning. He had just been planning the next training op for his squad when he had been paged. 

“What do you think that's about Sergeant?” asked Lance Corporal Sean Cullen, his squad’s heavy gunner.

“No idea Cullen. Only one way to find out.” With that Chase got up and made his way to the combat information center. As he walked through the door he paused for a second as he saw a six and a half foot woman with short cropped hair standing at attention next to the captain. “Sergeant Dowd reporting as ordered” stated chase as he snapped into attention.

“At ease marine” Captain Fahie ordered. “We have a mission for you and your squad. This here is Spartan Linda, a sniper specialist. We need you to run security for her as she takes out a high value target of the covenant. Here is a file listing all the information on this mission. I want you to go prep your team, and be ready to go at 1900 hrs”

“Yes, sir!” the sergeant responded. Linda turned toward the young Marine and studied him. She looked him up and down studying him, then walked away. Chase looked at the captain, and asked “Sir, permission to speak”

“Go ahead”

“Sir, why are you sending us on this mission and not the ODST’s?” the marine inquired.

The captain sighed and responded, “Unfortunately the ODST’s and the spartans don’t get along due to an incident that happened many years ago. I don’t want that animosity causing problems on this mission.”

“Understood sir.”

“You're dismissed marine. Get the job done and get back safely.”

“Oohrah sir”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chase got back to his squad bay and told his marines to get ready for a insertion by 1900. Chase’s squad had 3 men in it. There was the next in command, Lance Corporal Sean Cullen. The man was big, weighing in at almost 260 lbs of pure muscle, and reached a height of 6’3’’. Fitting his large stature, Cullen was the squads heavy gunner. The Reach born marine had always wanted to join the UNSC since he was younger and had seen the many men training.

Next was Private First Class Tim Benner, a 19 year old hailing from Episolon Eridanus II, he was the squads marksman. Tim Benner had joined the Marine Corps because he had gotten his high school sweetheart pregnant, and trying to do the right thing, had joined up to support her and his 2 year old daughter Emily.

The last man in the squad was PFC Chris Alan, the assault and point man. He was a quiet man who had decided to join because his best friend, Jacob, had joined. Unfortunately shortly after graduating from boot camp, the two young men had been deployed on a planet recently invaded by the covenant. After fighting for 18 hours, the marines position was over run by elites and jackals. Chris had watched as everyone in his squad had been slowly tortured by the elites, then fed to the jackals still alive. The last thing he heard from jacob, had been screams for help as the jackals had shredded him apartand devoured him. Chris had only ssurvived due to a squad of ODST’s happening upon the slaughter and taking out the Covenant.

Chase watched as his squad started moving with efficiancy and purpose, getting their kit together and preparing for whatever might be coming to them. The newly made sergeant sat down on his bunk and started looking over the inteligence package on the operation.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

Operation Leaning Star

Primary objective: Eliminate Covenant HVT

Secondary Objectives: Collect any intel on Covenant movements  
Collect enemy equipment for study  
Capture any high level enemies for interrogation

Intel: Heavy enemy concentration within AO. Due to high chances of contact being made, a security team of marines should be sent with the primary sniper. Spartan Linda shall have overall control on the ground as mission lead. The insertion shall take place during sunset allowing any contrails to be camouflaged by discoloration of sky. Once on the ground the team shall make their way to the final firing position and take out the HVT. Afterwards, they will make their way to the extraction point. Due to high concentration and high likelihood of contact, the extraction point shall change depending on whether the team is undetected or not. There will be a QRF of 4 squads of ODST’s prepared to drop at any point of the mission. Estimated time of mission is 36 hours. 24 hours to the FFP, 3 hours of waiting, and 9 hours to extraction. Insertion and Extraction shall be handled by the UNSC Backdraft. Attached is a picture of the primary target, and a map of the area.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chase put down the file and thought for a second. They were going into a heavily protected area to defend a sniper, and the only intel they were given was this? Something wasn’t adding up. “Everything ok Sergeant Dowd?” Lance Corporal Cullen asked.

“No problem, Lance Corporal Cullen. Just checking out the intel on the op.” Chase stated. He didn’t want to put doubt into the rest of the squad. It would only be a detriment to their mind set on the ground and could get them killed. “Is Everyone’s gear set up and ready to go?”

“Yes sergeant.”

“Good. have everyone get some shut eye before the insertion. We,re going to have a long day ahead of us.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

At 1830 hrs the squad met up in the pelican hangar. Chase did a final check on all the gear to make sure nothing was forgotten or easy to lose.

“PFC Benner, tighten the straps on your rifle. Dont want it getting loose on the way down.”

“Yes, sergeant!” the young marksman said.

THUD

The squad turned around at the loud sound and saw a 7½ foot armored giant. On the shoulder was the name Linda printed. “Let’s get loaded up marines, we have a target down there with a rendezvous with this bullet.” the spartan stated and got on the pelican dropship.

“You heard her squad, load up.” chase looked at his watch and saw it was 1900 hrs. Time to go to work.


	2. Any Crash You Can Walk Away From

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the team makes their way down to the planet, something goes a little wrong

Chapter 2  
Over unnamed planet, aboard pelican dropship

There’s a saying in the military that no plan survives first contact with the enemy. Sergeant Chase Dowd could confirm that this saying was true, considering their semi stealthy insertion to the planet had turned into a fiery coffin, hell bent on burying them in the ground the hard way.

“Status report!” the squad leader yelled.

“Pilots are dead, both wings have been shot off, and one of our engines has failed” came the cold female voice of Linda. “Sergeant, get your men in parachutes, i’ll make you an opening.”

“What about you? These ‘chutes can’t handle your weight.” Chase stated as he helped Chris with his backpack. Linda made her way to the back of the pelican, climbing the 45 degree pitch as easily as a gentle hill.

“Don’t worry about me Sergeant, I’ll be fine. We’ll meet up on the crashed pelican on the ground. Everybody copy that?”

“Yes ma’am” with that, the spartan turned around and ripped off the hydraulic pistons holding the rear ramp closed, and jumped out.

“Go, go, go” Chase yelled as he made sure his men got out. The men, using the seats as a ladder, had to climb their way out of the pelican, first Tim, then Chris, and finally, Sean made their way out of the rear, and jumped out. Chase then made his way up the side himself, and looked out over this planet, and saw that the ground was rapidly approaching. The Sergeant quickly jumped, spread out his arms and legs to stabilize his fall, and pulled the chute after clearing the pelicans wake. His shoulders were suddenly jerked as the parachute yanked on his harness.

As his decent slowed he looked around and saw other canopies floating in the wind. One, two…. Where was the third chute? He knew that Linda didn’t have one, so there should be three…. Suddenly chase saw a black dot flailing through the air as they hurtled toward the hard ground. Chase watched as the unknown squadmate fell through the canopy of the forest below, and knew at that moment that he had lost his first man.

It wasn’t the first death he had seen, nor was it going to be the last. But It was the first death that had been under his command. He hoped this wasn’t an omen about how this mission was going to go.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chase safely made it to the ground in a small opening of trees and immediately got his survival kit out of the chutes backpack. The survival kit included a M6C pistol, a knife, a 1 liter of water, a signal flare, a roll of duct tape, and 50 feet of rope. After checking to make sure the kit still had everything and that nothing was broken, The Marine checked the sky for the smoke of the pelican crash site and started making his way there. Unfortunately due to the sudden escalation of events, he and his squad had been unable to get their gear off the pelican before ditching. Chase just hoped that it wasn’t all smashed to bits.

It took him 45 minutes to get to the crash site. Before making his way into the newly made clearing, Chase made sure to check the perimeter to make sure no hostiles had decided to check out the dropship, and that no one was prepared to ambush them. After clearing the immediate surroundings, he made his way to the back of the pelican and started rummaging around the jumbled gear on the ground. By the time Linda made it to the site, Chase had collected his assault rifle, a pack full of MRE’s, and Linda’s sniper rifle. As he walked out with the long range rifle, he saw the giant of a woman limped out of the woods. Chase placed the rifle against a crate, and walked over to her. 

“Are you ok?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” she stated firmly “just sprained my ankle and broke some of my suits inner components. Status report."

"Yes ma'am. I've been able to collect a few weapons and MRE's from the crash. Current status of my men is MIA one likely KIA. I'm fine and haven't made contact with any enemy soldiers."

"One likely KIA? Why do you say that?"

"Counted chutes after I jumped. One didn't open" Chase stated sadly. Suddenly a snap of a branch brought two pistols up to bear, the sergeants only slightly slower then the spartans due to her heightened reflexes. 

"Friendly! Friendly!" Shouted out Sean Cullen as he approached out of the wood followed closely by Chris Alan. Linda and Chase lowered their weapons and watched the two men walk towards them. "Everyone ok?" Asked Sean.

"Sergeant Dowd is fine and I have a sprained ankle. Some of the component in my armor are shot as well. What's your status marines?"

"We are both green, Ma'am" While chase was happy to hear that they were both good to go, he was also was saddened by the fact that Tim Benner was dead. Tim had been a good marine and was a big loss to the mission due to him being the backup sniper due to his marksman training. This would lower their combat effectiveness and make their mission that much harder. 

"PFC Alan, check the perimeter and make sure that no enemies are sneaking up on us. The header from this fire is sure to attract attention. Lance Corporal Cullen, set up an overwatch position on that broken wing there so you can cover this crash zone. Petty Officer Linda, would you mind helping move some of the debris so i can get to the weapons cabinet up front?" Chase wanted to get away from the crash site as soon as possible as it was bound to attract unfriendly characters. 

"Yes Sergeant" the two marines said and set to work getting their jobs done. Sean took the scavenged assault rifle and set up on the wing scanning the woods for movement. Chris took his pistol out and melted into the woods scouting it out and setting some early warning traps with the rope from his survival kit. Linda moved with him to the pelican and they got to work searching for more gear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. Hope you're liking the story so far. I'm sure you hear this from all the authors, but this is my first work. Any feedback is welcome, along with tips, grammer or spelling correction and death threats (as long as they're funny, serious one are just boring) Thank you and i hope you'll stay for the next chapter.


	3. First Contact

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The squad gathers up their gear and gets into a small firefight

Chapter 3  
Unknown planet  
Crashed pelican dropship  
2 hours after crash

The sky had been dark for over an hour by the time the pelican was stripped of anything useful. By the end they had found 2 more assault rifles, Tim's DMR, three medkits, a handful of grenades, and two packs full of ammunition for the assault rifles. Unfortunately there was only 4 magazines for the DMR. On top of this Linda had determined that the sniper rifle had been too damaged in the crash and was unusable for any shooting, let alone a long range one. Chris, after finishing setting up perimeter alarms, had come in and grabbed an assault rifle and then continued his patrolling. Suddenly Sean called in, "Movement, bearing 3-2-0"

The sergeant and petty officer, quickly moved to firing positions, Chase taking the last assault rifle, and Linda, the DMR. As they prepared, the crude sound trap went off. "Alan, what's your position?"

"I'm hidden right now 10 meters to the west of the enemy. I'm ready to open up on your command."

"Copy that. What's the enemy composed of?"

"One elite, three grunts. No jackals."

"Ok everybody, the spartan and I will concentrate fire on the elite, marines your focus on the grunts. Both start from your own rights. We will open fire on my third click. Everybody understand?" Whispered Chase. He heard three double clicks and prepared himself.

The enemy squad exited the woods, they're weapons sweeping the area.

Click

The grunts started to spread out, looking for any survivors of the crash.

 

Click

The elite paused as he stared at Chase's position, thinking he saw a silhouette. 

Click

The air filled with the ratatatata of the assault rifles, and the bang, bang, bang of the DMR. The grunts went down quickly but the elite was more difficult due to its shield. Even with the withering fire the elite was able to maneuver to some cover from the three attackers in the crash area. Luckily due to Chris's positioning behind the enemy, he was still able to get a shot on the elite. This forced that leader of the covenant squad to leave his cover returning fire to the now known shooter in the trees. 

This continuous fire finally knocked out the shields and allowed Linda to fire a 7.62 round into the back of the sangheili's skull. "Cease fire. Cease fire" yelled Chase. "Police those bodies. Make sure we don't have any possums."

Chris came out of the tree’s and started firing single rounds into each alien’s head. One grunt let out a death wail as he felt the round enter his head. Linda and Chase regrouped and started planning what to do. They looked at the map on their HUD and saw that they had crashed 20 miles from the LZ. “Well this isn’t good. Not only do we only have a single day to get to the final firing position, but we have to go the additional distance, we don’t have a sniper rifle, and the enemy knows where we are.”

"I could make that distance myself, plus the little extra needed to make up for using the DMR, but I'd leave you and your squad behind. I don't want to leave you guys behind in case you're attacked." stated the Petty Officer.

Chase started to think about this plan. While he didn't like the idea of the large Spartan leaving them, he knew that it was the best plan to complete the mission. "Roger that, take my MA5B for better fire power, and one of the bags of ammo. Make sure to save your DMR magazines, you can refill them using your assault rifle ammo."

Linda took Chase's weapon, racking back the slide to check the chamber, then attached it to her back magnetic clamps. “Good thinking” Linda stated, impressed. “We will meet at the extraction zone. Stay hidden until I get there. I’ll signal with a six note whistle.” she proceeded to whistle the signal. 

“Sounds good Petty Officer. Good luck” And with that she started out towards her objective. “Squad, rally up.” he waited until Chris and Sean had joined him in the middle of the crash site. “Ok, plan is to hoof it to the extraction zone and rendezvous with the Spartan there. It's about 25 miles there. We will move there in a combat spread. Any questions?”  
“Sergeant, are we going to call in the QRF?” Lance Corporal Cullen queried.

“We tried but there was no answer. We believe either the radios are down or they are being jammed. We should be ok. Once the pelican doesn’t show up, someone will realize something is wrong. Until then we will move carefully and stay vigilant.”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The squad moved out towards the extraction site soon after. It was slow going as the marines weren’t used to the sounds of the forest and each new vibration in the air made them pause and listen until it was identified. Twice they almost stumbled onto enemy patrols. Only because of Chris’s attention to detail. Chase didn’t want to get into a fire fight as it would only make their lives that much harder. After 4 hours of hiking through the wooded area, he called a rest for the night and had the men set up a campsite, with Sean taking the first watch, Chase second, and Chris the final two hour watch. Sean had no problems, only having a slight jump scare when some flying wildlife fell from a tree right in front of him. After two hours he awakened Chase and went to sleep. Chase did a perimeter search to make sure the alarms were still set up and that nothing had been sneaking up on them. Then he went back to the camp, and sat with his back against a tree, scanning the night. An hour later he started nodding off. That is until he heard the laugh of elites a small distance away. Immediately he moved to Sean and Chris to wake them up, but he saw that Chris was already moving with his rifle and the Lance corporal was close behind. They stealthily made their way towards the sound. The flickering of a fire could be seen over a slight rise in the forest floor. The three man squad crawled to the lip of the hill and looked down on the campsite. There they saw something that made their blood run cold, and their breath to catch. Surrounded by 12 Sangheili was Spartan Linda 058, bound, bloodied, and with her armor missing.


	4. Divide and Conquer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Marines attempt to save the captured Spartan

Chapter 4  
9 hours after crash  
Unknown planet

“Fuck” whispered Sean. Chase could confirm that he felt similar to Sean, only stopping because of his seniority of rank. He thought quickly about what he was going to do. There was to many for a head on fight, and even in a retreating action, the Elites would easily outflank the small squad of marines. The Sergeant looked quickly through the clearing. On the east side of the site was Linda’s weapons, but her armor and her ammo weren’t with them. In the center was a roaring fire. Luckily for the Marines, it looked like the elites had been settling down for the night as most weren’t carrying their weapons, and some had even taken off their helmets to relax. 

“Okay, I want you guys to take some grenades and rope, set up an ambush over there. I just need you to distract them long enough for me to get her free.” he pointed at Linda, “Once she’s free we’ll have a better chance of eliminating them. Pull them your way with a couple shots from your pistol in,” Chase looked at his watch, “5 minutes. Be careful and stay alive. Move out.” Chase started moving to the east moving slowly and quietly. Giving away his position now would ruin the ambush and possibly get them all killed. Even with the diligent movements, he still had a minute to spare when he got into position near the pile of Linda’s weapons. One of the elites, one of the ones who had removed his helmet, started towards his hiding place. The sergeant started sweating. Did he see him? Was he about to get all his men killed? This mission had been a shit show since the beginning. Was this how it was going to end?

Bang, bang, bang!! The sound of the large caliber shots came from the other side of the camp. The Elites immediately turned towards the noise and the alien soldier that had been nearest Chase shouted orders. 6 of the noble warriors ran into the woods to find out who had been shooting at them. As they disappeared into the darkness of the woods, Chase threw a grenade into a group of three as he jumped onto the back of the Elite commander and buried his knife into his neck repeatedly. The sangheili let out a gurgling yell as he fell down due to his knees buckling. The sergeant rolled into the fall coming up next to the pile of weapons. The grenade exploded, killing the group of three who hadn’t been able to activate their shields yet. Chase picked up an assault rifle and sprayed towards the other two, making them dive for cover behind a fallen tree. The marine jumped up and ran towards Linda. She rolled onto her front so he could get to the bindings on her arms. Chase saw a single button and pressed it. The restraints deactivated and fell to the ground. Suddenly plasma fire filled the air above the two humans, causing Chase to returning suppressing fire so they could get to cover.

Once the squad leader was behind cover he gave Linda a quick once over. Other then some bloodied knuckles and a sizable knot on her head, she seemed to be in good condition. Chase handed her the assault rifle. “I figure you’re better with this then I am. I have my men in the woods to the north west. They’re distracting the other half of this group”

“Roger that. You suppress with your pistol as I flank them and take them out. Then we will come up behind the other guys.” Linda dropped the almost empty assault rifle magazine and pushed in a second one chase handed to her. She chambered a round and started moving around the enemies fallen log. Chase popped up and started steadily firing rounds into the top of the wooden cover, showering the Elites with wooden splinters and keeping their head’s down. Linda suddenly appeared from the woods and unloaded on the surprised sangheili warriors. Chase quickly jumped out of cover and started firing the meaty slugs from his own weapon into the surrounded elites. Their shields, then lives, quickly died under the dual assault of projectiles. Linda came into the clearing looking around to make sure that the immediate area was safe. 

“Clear!” she stated, lowering her weapon and kneeling on the ground. “We’ll rest a few minutes then move to help the rest of your squad. I need a quick breather.” This shocked Chase. He had heard the legendary stories of the Spartans. He knew of their amazing endurance and strength. If she needed a break then she had been through a lot in the last few hours. 

“Ok. You stay here Linda. I'm going to go help my...” suddenly an elite jumped out of the woods with an energy dagger and took Linda hostage backing up with a tree by his side. Chris and Sean came out shortly after, weapons trained on the elites position, spreading out to try and get a better angle. “Let her go!” The situation was not good. No one had a good shot. 

“Stay where you are!” came the warbled response from the hostage taker. “You are all going to die.”

“What are you talking about? We have you surrounded!”

“Hahaha. You foolish humans. We knew you were coming. This planet is just a trap to kill the ones you call Spartans. You won’t be escaping this planet alive, even if you kill me.” Suddenly, Linda picked up her legs and pushed with all her strength against the tree the elite had been using as protection for his flank. The two warriors fell to the forest floor, separating and allowing the squad of marines to open up on the elite with everything they had.

“Well this complicates things.”


End file.
